Wie Japan sein Fachkräfteangebot stärken will

How Japan intends to shore up its supply of skilled workers despite a declining population

Japan has Asia's best-structured technical education system. As the country's workforce shrinks, so-called super science high schools and new funding programs are intended to increase the system's appeal, especially among women.

Japan is a pioneer in the world of labor shortages. The country's population has been shrinking at an accelerating rate for more than 10 years. The nation is currently losing around 600,000 people a year. This annual rate of decline will soon rise to one million. The effects are being felt throughout the economy. As in other Asian countries, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find workers, especially for manual labor or industrial occupations.

However, Japan has a major advantage over its neighbors South Korea, Taiwan and China when it comes to tackling this particular problem: The country has been industrialized longer than any other nation in Asia. Japanese expert Yoshisuke Kumano of the University of Miyagi believes that Japan's industrial companies still have «great potential» to secure young skilled workers for factories and research laboratories.

At first glance, his opinion may seem surprising. In international comparisons, Japan does not rank highly in terms of the number of graduates in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering. According to a study by Georgetown University, only 19% of Japanese graduates specialized in one of these fields in 2020, compared to 20% in the United States, 36% in Germany and 41% in China.

But Kumano, who has been building and researching skilled-worker training programs for decades, says Japan has an advantage in the fact that in the 150 years since it began industrializing, the country has developed solid vocational training structures at all skill levels. By contrast, such programs have only a short tradition in other Asian countries.

Established structures and more money

Since 2016, as a part of the «Society 5.0» initiative, the government has been ratcheting up funding programs in an effort to increase the appeal of STEM education – that is, education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. These campaigns were given a new boost in 2021. For example, the government has created a funding program worth 10 trillion yen (57 billion Swiss francs, or about $62.2 billion) to support universities.

These activities are slowly bearing fruit. Even among the current smartphone generations, the proportion of pupils attending vocational and technical schools has remained stable, at around a quarter of all students. At some universities, the number of STEM students is even increasing, says Kuwano. And to reduce the remaining gaps, the government is also rolling out the red carpet in the country's vocational training programs for young foreigners.

From this year onward, graduates of technical schools will receive the same work visas as university graduates. In this way, the government wants to train an additional 3,000 foreign skilled workers in Japan each year, and integrate them into the labor market.

Japan wants to attract low-skilled workers in addition to highly skilled specialists, but with a twist. Visas provided to this population are limited in time, and do not allow for family reunification. However, those who acquire additional qualifications and pass language tests will in the future be able to convert their temporary residence permits into longer-term visas.

How Japan is training the next generation of engineers

What makes vocational and STEM training attractive in Japan is the long tradition of what the Japanese call monozukuri, or the making of things. Full-time jobs within large companies are still considered desirable, and the pay is good. In addition, even vocational schools and professional training colleges provide direct pipelines to companies, so that almost all graduates can get a job.

Another point is the early focus on mathematics and manual trade skills, as well as a differentiation between secondary school and university education. Considerable emphasis is placed on mathematics from elementary school onward. There are also two hours per week of wood and metalworking courses. Computer programming is now also part of the primary school curriculum, with the goal of training young minds for the jobs of the digital future.

The result: In the most recent tests overseen by the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, a global comparative study of pupils' abilities, Japan was ranked second worldwide in math and science, trailing only Singapore. Moreover, another factor also set Japan apart: In contrast to many Western countries, test results actually improved during the COVID-19 pandemic rather than showing a sharp decline. This is because Japan's government closed schools for only two months at the start of the pandemic in 2020, but not again afterward.

Students can choose between different future career sectors at the latest in secondary schools. In principle, all children in Japan go to school for 12 years, from primary school to lower secondary school to upper secondary school. Instead of a division into university-preparation high schools and non-university track secondary schools, there is an unofficial ranking of schools that screen their attendees by using tough entrance exams.

Students who are not focused on academic subjects can enroll at vocational secondary schools. But there are also elite schools that focus on STEM training. The highest level in this regard are the «super science high schools». According to the Ministry of Education, 250 schools across the country were allowed to use this designation in 2023.

Many graduates of these high-level secondary training programs go directly into work after finishing school. For the middle- and lower-level skilled workers and engineering careers, the system offers two-year vocational schools, the Senmon Gakko. The more ambitious students aspire to go to universities.